Sunday, December 11, 2016

Homelessness ‘an affront to human dignity’, Catholic bishops say

The Catholic bishops have expressed deep concern at the growing level of homelessness across Ireland.

They called on people of goodwill
to support homeless agencies in every way they can “towards building a
society where homelessness, and poor housing, which are an affront to
human dignity, are eradicated forever.”

The bishops noted that, according to the Vincent de Paul Society,
“there are almost 90,000 households waiting for social housing in the
Republic of Ireland – and over 2,000 children living in homeless
accommodation in Dublin”.

Meanwhile, the latest official
count by the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive found 142 rough sleepers
on the streets of the capital, an increase of 56 per cent over the past
year.

Such a reality was contrary to the social teaching of the Catholic Church
which “informs us that each person, regardless of his or her economic
or social position, racial or faith background, must be treated with
full dignity,” the bishops said.

“ Sadly this Christmas there are
tens of thousands of people living in our parishes who are in crisis,
struggling with rents; with no food in the cupboard; no heating in their
home and in need of fuel and basic clothing. Such families are living
in cramped conditions in hotels and bed-and-breakfasts, or desperately
trying to hold onto their tenancies in the private rented sector.”

Special initiatives

The bishops said “many dioceses have undertaken special initiatives for the homeless and people in need this Christmas”.

They noted how “since December 2014, the Archdiocese of Dublin
has provided accommodation for 30 homeless people, operated by
Crosscare” and that it was currently in negotiations with city
authorities “with a view to providing two other premises for emergency
accommodation.”

The bishops made their remarks in a statement at the end of their winter meeting in Maynooth on Wednesday.

On other matters, they said they
were currently finalising their submission on the Eighth Amendment to
the Citizens’ Assembly and that this would be published in the coming
days.

They said that at the recent Irish
Inter–Church Meeting, between the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference
and the Irish Council of Churches, last month in Portarlington, Co Laois, the plight of the ongoing persecution of Christians in the Middle East was discussed.

In a joint communique afterwards
they agreed that “as churches, we can play our part by keeping this
issue on the agenda of our political leaders and ensuring that the
victims of persecution are not forgotten.”

The Catholic bishops urged support
for Trócaire’s Christmas appeal and said members of the Irish Bishops’
Conference would travel to Rome next month for their ad limina visit to the Vatican, which will include an audience with Pope Francis and meetings with senior members of the Curia.

All bishops in charge of a diocese are required to make such visits, usually every five years.

However, the last ad llimina
visit to Rome by Irish bishops was in 2006.

The Irish bishops also sent
their congratulations to Pope Francis, who will be 80 on December 17th.